1050 S Gordon St SW
Atlanta, GA 30310, USA

National Register of Historic Places - Joel Chandler Harris House (The Wren's Nest;Snap Bean Farm)

Statement of Significance:

The Wren's Nest, presently located on a busy Atlanta Street, was Joel Chandler Harris' rural home, his cottage retreat on "Snap Bean Farm" where he did most of his writing from 1881 until his death in 1908. The prominent Southern journalist had just published his first Uncle Remus book when he moved to this house, which he remodeled into a rambling frame cottage with many gables and a heavily latticed porch, surrounded by gardens and trees. While Harris was still a young man, his column featuring Uncle Remus and his critter friends gained popularity throughout the world. Best remembered as the creator of Uncle Remus, Harris also was a well-known editor of the Atlanta Constitution and published a great variety of material. His works describing in careful detail aspects of his native Georgian environment, are recognized today as a most valuable part of Americana.

Biography
The famous Southern journalist and author was born near Eatonton, Putnam County, Georgia in 1848, and lived all but six months of his life in Georgia. Until age fourteen, he lived with his mother in Eatonton, where she supported them both by working as a seamstress.

In 1862 he answered an advertisement in The Countryman, the only paper ever to be published from a plantation, and was hired as printing devil by Joseph A. Turner, the plantation owner and editor. Turner encouraged Harris' interest in reading and writing by offering unlimited use of his personal library and by allowing him to publish small articles in the paper.

It was also during his apprenticeship at "Turnwold Plantation" that Joel began his life-long friendship with the slaves and the forest animals which later filled his stories and brought him fame. An old black man named George Terrell who was a friend of young Harris at Turnwold was the model for his Uncle Remus.

Harris' stay at the Turner plantation came to an end in 1864 when the left wing of Sherman's army swept across Putnam County, destroying the plantation. He found work for a short time as a type-setter on the Macon Telegraph, and then for six months in New Orleans as secretary to the publisher of the Crescent Monthly. He returned to Georgia and worked on the Monroe Advertiser in Forsyth. By 1870 his reputation as a newspaper humorist was sufficient to secure him a generous offer from the Savannah Morning News.

Joel Chandler Harris House, 1050 Gordon St Atlanta, Fulton County, GA

Historically significant as the former home of Joel Chandler Harris, author of the "Uncle Remus" tales and other negro dialect stories. He lived here from 1881 until his death in 1908. Architecturally, an interesting Queen Anne residence.